User blog:Samuli.seppanen/Was the handle made of wood?
Earlier this week I finished revising my old translation of the case, slider and the crescent-shaped piece in the cheiroballistra manuscript. Then, when I continued on to the part describing the triggering mechanism, I was caught by surprise. Here's the part: "Γεγοέτω ἐξ ὕλης σιδηρᾶς χειρολάβη ἡ ΑΒΓΔ" Translated to English: "Handle ΑΒΓΔ shall be made of wood as strong as iron" Here's an alternative translation: "Handle ΑΒΓΔ shall be made of iron material" And an "obfuscated" translation used by most scholar: "Handle ΑΒΓΔ shall be made of iron" I call this approach obfuscated, because the word "ὕλης" has just been ignored. If "iron handle" was what Heron (or P.H.) ment, then the way he said it in Greek is very odd, and that alone would warrant a comment from the translators. The following paragraph is copied directly from my comments on the Translation of Cheiroballistra page: The word ὕλης (genetive of ὕλη) in "ἐξ ὕλης σιδηρᾶς" has been effectively ignored by most scholars. There are several variants of this part; According to Schneider (1906: 150) manuscript V says "ἐχ ξύλης" here, and P says "ἐχ ξυλώσης". Prou (1877: 20) mentions another reading variant, "ἐχ ξύλῳ". In any case, in this context "ὕλη" or the variants can only mean "wood as a material" or "material" in general. Depending on the dictionary one looks at, the latter, more generic usage is said to be rare. Regardless, all scholars seem to have universally accepted that particular interpretation, usually without leaving any trace of "ὕλη" in their translations (e.g. Prou: 1877: 20; Marsden 1971: 213; Wilkins 1995: 14). Schneider's translation, "aus eisenmaterial" ("of iron material") is the best in this regard. Wilkins (1995: 16) kindly notes that the material for a component is only mentioned thrice in the cheiroballistra manuscript, the two other cases being the bronze cylinders ("κύλινδροι χαλκοῖ κοῦφοι") and the iron bars ("σιδηροῦς κανόνας"). As can be seen, in neither of these cases does the word ὕλη show up. A quick look at Heron's Belopoeica also reveals the lack of use of ὕλη: "στήματα ὀρθὰ σιδηρᾶ δύο" ("two vertical iron stanchions", M 76), "σιδηροῦς δάκτυλος" ("iron finger", M 76), "ἐποίουν δὲ αῦτὰς σιδηρᾶς" ("they made these of iron", M 83), "περόνη σιδηρᾶ" ("iron pin", M 89) and "λεπίδας σιδηρᾶς" ("iron plates", M 102). Why not just use this much simpler wording here also, and skip the "iron material" nonsense? In this light my methaphorical translation, "wood as strong as iron", seems quite possible, and it completely changes the nature of the handle, limiting its uses and ruling out, for example, its use as attachment point for the winch. All this said, actually making a handle from hardwood might prove challenging. On the other hand, it might open up new ideas on what to do with the otherwise almost useless pittarion*. I will have to translate the rest of the triggering mechanism part before thinking about this too much. Others have said the description is horribly confusing, but we'll see. People have also been horribly confused of the small spring diameter of the cheiroballistra and gone to great lengths to "fix" it. * Some suggest the pittarion was used to push forward the slider. One can do that, sure, but there is no point, because one already has three other parts which can be used for that purpose: the trigger, the claw and the handle. I personally prefer the claw. I use pittarion to reinforce the grain of the wood behind the handle axle, where it at least has a reason to exist. Category:Blog posts Category:Backup